Into the Night
by Gamma Orionis
Summary: Roughly connected drabbles from the life of Bellatrix Black Lestrange, chronicling her journey from a respectable Pureblood girl to the Dark Lord's closest Death Eater. Written for the Drabble Challenge on the HPFC forum.
1. Family

From her birth, the most important thing in Bellatrix's life was family. Not because she particularly cared, but because it was so very evident that she had no choice except to care about them. They were the reason she was told to do anything.

"Bellatrix," her mother would say if she got her clothing dirty, if she spilled water at dinner, if she did not keep a small, polite smile on her face at all times, "is that any way for a Black to behave?"

_No_, Bellatrix thought, once she'd grown old enough to question such things. _But it's the way a child should behave._


	2. Big Sister

When Bellatrix first saw her second sister, she didn't like her. Andromeda, at only three, was only vaguely aware of the new presence in the home, but Bellatrix was acutely conscious of the baby, and she disliked her. Narcissa, she thought, was boring. She couldn't so much as look at her without being scolded, _Now Bellatrix, you'll hurt the baby_. How did you hurt a baby just by looking at it? Did the nurses think Bellatrix had the evil eye?

It was only when Narcissa turned two years old that Bellatrix was allowed to play with her. It was only then that she decided that she liked the child after all. Narcissa was like a doll, more for decoration than for use, but from the first time seven-year-old Bellatrix held the child in her arms, she decided that, worthless as she seemed to be, Bellatrix would protect her forever.

That was what big sisters did, after all.


	3. Daddy's Girl

Bellatrix was the first of her sisters and cousins to be sent to Hogwarts. She stood on the train platform, while her mother inspected her clothing for any imperfections, her father counselled her on good behaviour, and her sisters sniffed and tried not to cry. Before she got on the train, Cygnus spoke to her alone.

"You must show the world the best qualities of the Black family," he told her. "You must make it so that when your sisters and – eventually – your cousins join you at Hogwarts, there will be a standard set. You must make it so that people at the school know to respect a Black."

"Yes, Father," Bellatrix said.

"That's my girl," he told her, kissing her hair.

That was the only kiss she remembered ever receiving from him.


	4. Sorting Hat

"Black, Bellatrix!"

At the calling of her name, Bellatrix walked to the stool where the Sorting Hat awaited her, and sat down, allowing it to be lowered onto her head. There was a moment of tense silence, then she heard a quiet voice in her ear.

"Well, well, another Black. It is always so difficult to sort the Blacks, yet always so easy. You have a Gryffindor's bravery, a Hufflepuff's loyalty, a Ravenclaw's intelligence and a Slytherin's ambition. There are so many different paths you could take, young Bellatrix Black. Which one will you choose?"

"Put me in Slytherin," she whispered, voice strained. "Please, Slytherin, all my family has been in Slytherin."

"Then you shall be too," the Hat said, and it called out the name of her house.

How different life might have been if she had chosen a different house.


	5. Slytherin

The very first thing Bellatrix wrote, in her very first letter home, was a confirmation that she had been put in Slytherin. Her parents, overjoyed, wrote back in haste to counsel her on the joys of the house. Slytherin, they told her, valued all virtues – loyalty, wisdom and bravery – but above all it put stock in ambition and good sense. Slytherin's reputation might be unfavourable with the other houses, but her parents told her, it would be in Slytherin that she would find her true friends. Unsurprisingly, the letter also reminded her that in Slytherin house, the Black family reputation would proceed her and it would be more important than ever to live up to expectations.

Whether that was too great a burden for a child of eleven was a question no one thought to ask.


	6. Friend

Bellatrix was tentative, wary of other students. Illogical though it was, she felt that if she became comfortable with any of them and let her icy composure slip, they would run off to report her to her parents. That there were only a handful of students in the school that even knew her parents didn't occur to her.

Over breakfast one morning, she let herself slip, just a little. A boy slipped into the seat next to her, smiling.

"Who are you?" she asked immediately. No one had ever taken the initiative to sit next to her before.

"I'm Rodolphus. You're Bellatrix Black, right?"

She nodded, and was surprised to find the tiniest of smiles growing on her face.

"Hello," he said, then he poured his juice and that was the end of it.

He was the first student who she ever smiled at.

In a way, years later, Bellatrix considered him her very first friend.


	7. The Marauders

School went smoothly until Bellatrix's cousin Sirius turned up at Hogwarts. Much younger than her, fiery and loud, Sirius attracted attention to the House of Black in a way that neither Bellatrix nor Andromeda nor Narcissa had ever done. And the attention he attracted was not good.

He became the first Black in memory to be sorted into Gryffindor.

Worse still, he made those… those friends.

_Friends, _Bellatrix scoffed. _You can't be friends with people like that._

Mad Remus Lupin.

Arrogant James Potter.

Disgusting Peter Pettigrew.

And for all Bellatrix's scorn of the self-titled "Marauders", she had to admit that those three were the perfect compliment for her cousin.

Ridiculous Sirius Black.


End file.
